Spanish police seized at least 83 million euros worth of buildings and bank deposits owned by drug traffickers in 2007, the police said Sunday.

Spanish police seized at least 83 million euros worth of buildings and bank deposits owned by drug traffickers in 2007, the police said Sunday. The buildings may actually be worth much more, as the police used public registry prices and not market prices to value them, a police statement said. Buying real estate has become one of the fastest ways to launder drug money through front companies, which develop two or three buildings to get the recognition...

Jury took just over four hours to clear Ian Rush.

Ian Rush accused of setting up a company to continue the work of a Lowestoft couple, who supplied high speed boats to international drug smugglers, has been found not guilty.Following a four week trial at Ipswich Crown Court, a jury took just over four hours to clear Ian Rush.The ending of the case has cleared the way for the sentencing of Ellen George, 41, from Colville Road, Lowestoft, who was one of the owners of the business which HM Revenue...

Juan Vera, the Convergencia Andaluza Mayor of the village of Tolox, had been charged with planning crimes

Juan Vera, the Convergencia Andaluza Mayor of the village of Tolox, had been charged with planning crimes for granting building licences for more than 2,000 homes in this small village in the Sierra de las Nieves, which has a current population of just 2,400 people. Now, EFE reports that the Málaga prosecution service is charging the Mayor on 23 separate counts, and that each will be tried as a separate case. In each of them, EFE reports, he faces...

English family held at gunpoint during the attack in Sotogrande private gated community where the Duchess of York is a regular visitor

English family have been attacked during an armed raid on their exclusive home.The family were tied up and held at gunpoint during the attack in a private gated community where the Duchess of York is a regular visitor and footballer Glenn Hoddle owns a home. During the raid, which took place at their home alongside Valderrama golf course, in Sotogrande, the thieves made off with cash, jewelry as well as numerous other valuables.Understood to be from...

Excita Club, Gran Canaria have smashed a prostitution ring

Police in Gran Canaria have smashed a prostitution ring which is thought to have brought at least 50 Brazilian women into the country posing as tourists. The racket is said to have earned the gang well in excess of one and a half million euros.So far seven people have been arrested...

Demonstration as Santiago del Valle, the man arrested in connection with the death of five year old Mari Luz Cortés, arrived at the court in Huelva

Demonstration as Santiago del Valle, the man arrested in connection with the death of five year old Mari Luz Cortés, arrived at the court in Huelva shortly after 5 on Thursday afternoon, where a crowd of some 600 people had been waiting outside since the early hours of the morning....

Spanish police fired rubber bullets and clashed with protesters gathered outside a court Thursday in the town of Huelva on arrival of two suspects

Spanish police fired rubber bullets and clashed with protesters gathered outside a court Thursday in the town of Huelva for the arrival of two suspects in the disappearance and death of a 5-year-old local girl.The crowds shouted «murderer» and hurled bottles and stones as the suspects _ a man and his sister _ arrived in a police van. Three police officers and two journalists were slightly injured. Two people were arrested.«I insist in asking people...

Santiago del Valle García has confessed to the murder of Mari Luz Cortés

Santiago Del Valle had always been the prime suspect in the case but police lacked evidence against him. According to police sources quoted in the newspaper, he had a history of child molestation, even on his own daughter, and had left the El Torrejón district of Huelva to avoid possible reprisals from indignant neighbours. His wife, whose name does not appear, was detained for questioning with her husband although she is not a suspect; his sister...

man, named by the Mari Luz Cortés father Juan José, as Santiago G.

Europa Press reports that the arrested man has now confessed, to the police but not to a judge, to his involvement in the disappearance of the five year old, but says that she died accidentally. According to his statement to police, he said that she fell and died accidentally when...

Seville drug mule was detained when about to board a plane for Dublin

The Provincial Court in Málaga has sentenced a 34 year old Sevilla man who was found at Málaga Airport with 250 grams of cocaine in his body, to three years and six months in prison. The court heard how he had ingested 87 balls of the drug and was detained when about to board a plane...

Drugs hidden in the bumpers of the vehicle

The Guardia Civil have arrested a 39 year old Moroccan man in the port of Málaga after he was found to be transporting 24 kilos of hashish in his car. The find was made on Sunday when customs officers thought that the man, named with the initials M.B., was acting suspiciously. They finally found the drugs hidden under the dashboard and in the bumpers of the vehicle which had just arrived on the ferry from Melil...

Spanish Navy in court after 250 kilos of hashish was found on a navy coastal patrol vessel

Three members of the Spanish Navy are waiting to appear in court after 250 kilos of hashish was found on a navy coastal patrol vessel in the Strait of Gibraltar. The vessel had departed from Ceuta and docked in San Fernando in Cádiz and a joint Navy and Police investigation continues. The vessel’s mission was to patrol the Spanish waters in the Ceuta ar...

Mari Luz Cortés man has been arrested in Huelva

man has been arrested in Huelva in connection with the disappearance and death of the five year old Mari Luz Cortés, whose body was found floating in the Ria de Huelva last March 7. She had vanished when going to buy some crisps on the previous January 13 in the Torrejón district...

Drugs Lab found

Drugs laboratory was broken in the suburb of Molinos Marfagones. In Muricia City it was the Guardia Civil that was in action again in a big crackdown on suspected drug traders that involved many agents and a helicopter. Again, a clan is suspected at being at the heart of the alleged network. As well as arresting suspects officers also took away a monkey that was being held illegally. Crime committed by gangs from Eastern Europe causes particular...

Five Moroccan men were arrested at the weekend

Five Moroccan men were arrested at the weekend and are said by the Guardia Civil to have been members of a violent group that has been using pistols in holdups at petrol stations. The arrests took place in Águilas but the crimes cover a wide area. The gang is also said to have created a climate of intimidation amongst other Moroccans. More arrests are expected as investigations continue. Finally, Murcia priests became suspicious at the number of...

Illegal hunting groups were captured in Toledo and Salamanca

Two illegal hunting groups were captured in Toledo and Salamanca last week by the Guardia Civil who arrested 12 men, amongst them Pedro Gutiérrez - “El Capea” - bullfighter son of the veteran matador, Niño de la Capea. The Salamanca ring was discovered after Guardia Civil investigators found them buying illegal silencers from the Toledo group. Spain’s national parks were favourite locations for clandestine shoots of everything from owls to wolves,...

British man and his son,are to go on trial at the end of this month

British man and his son,are to go on trial at the end of this month on charges that they murdered an expat, whose body was found at the bottom of a well on the outskirts of Álora. Each of the men faces a 14-year prison sentence if found guilty.The body of Lee ‘Alfie’ H.W., 37, was discovered inside the well on July 18, 2005, eight days after his disappearance had been reported to police. The corpse exhibited a head injury and indications that the...

Mayor of Cómpeta banned from any public office

The former Mayor of the Málaga village of Cómpeta, the ex Partido Popular Mayor, Leovigildo López, has been banned from any public office position for the next seven years, in a sentence from criminal court No. 1 in the provincial capital which has found him guilty of planning crimes. He must also pay a fine of more than 2,000 €.It relates to a building licence granted for land classified as unsuitable for development, in the area known as El Pulido,...

62 years in prison for Prostitution ring

The Supreme Court has ratified a sentence from the provincial court in Almería which gave prison terms totalling 62 years to seven members of a Romanian network based in Vera which forced two countrywomen to work as prostitutes in local clubs. Europa Press reports how two of the suspects assaulted one of the women as she was travelling by bus to Almería to look for work in September 2003, and held on to her passport to force her to work for them....

Policeman shot in Benidorm

policeman,Fabián Torres, was injured in the early hours of Saturday in a shooting incident at the old El Molino restaurant in the centre of Benidorm. Reports indicate that the policeman was shot in the chest with a small calibre weapon by two individuals after he had asked them for identification close to the abandoned property known to be used by drug takers.The policeman is being treated in the Marina Baja hospital in Villajoyosa, where he is now...

Ian Rush yesterday denied allegations that he continued the trade of a Lowestoft company

Ian Rush yesterday denied allegations that he continued the trade of a Lowestoft company after its owners were arrested for involvement in supplying boats to drug smugglers.Ian Rush, 43, told Ipswich Crown Court that while the business he set up produced the same type of high-speed craft at the same site in the town, he did nothing illegal.Rush said he had been unaware of the activities of Neil Davison and Ellen George, who ran Crompton Marine in...

Bimal Puri,Glen Clark Cocaine had been hidden inside the wood of the desks, which had come from Mexico via Madrid and Alicante, Spain.

Four men face long prison sentences and the possible confiscation of money and property for importing 6.5kg of cocaine hidden inside computer desks imported from Mexico Police and Interpol are still looking for a fifth man who is on the run.Unknown to the men, officers from the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (Soca) had them under observation for three months before the drugs arrived through Heathrow on June 29 last year. The computer desks were...

Mohamed Kharraz aka Cherif Bin Louidane jailed for eight years

Casablanca court jailed Mohamed Kharraz, better known as Cherif Bin Louidane, for eight years, the government said on Thursday. It ordered 5.2 million dirhams of his fortune to be seized and fined him 500,000 dirhams.Moroccan drug baron was jailed along with the former head of Tangier's...

Eight men charged after one of Valencia’s biggest ever drug hauls

Sentencing has been released in the trial of the eight men charged after one of Valencia’s biggest ever drug hauls, three and a quarter tons of cocaine found in a lorry-load of bananas in the El Altet area of Elche four years ago. Total sentencing in the case amounts to more than 77 years and the smugglers will also have to pay the value the drug would have brought on the black market: more than 112 million €.The longest terms went to six of the...

Fatal shooting at the port in Algeciras

Central government offices in Cádiz have released details of a fatal shooting at the port in Algeciras on Monday evening when a Civil Guard officer was firing at the tyres of an escaping car and one of the shots hit the driver of the vehicle. He died in hospital around an hour later.EFE said the car had been reported as suspicious by staff at the port, who said they had seen one of the three occupants armed with a gun. It’s understood that the driver...

Two armed robberies in Malaga

Police in Málaga are investigating two armed robberies which took place in different parts of the city on Tuesday morning, both of them shortly before 10 am. The first assault was at a branch of Unicaja on Camino del Suárez, and involved one suspect, Diario Sur reports.Two suspects...

Alfredo Marijuán and Carlos Farré have been detained in custody and Isaac Pacheco Suárez and Eusebio Vázquez Fernández were released on bail.

Alfredo Marijuán and Carlos Farré have been detained in custody and Isaac Pacheco Suárez and Eusebio Vázquez Fernández were released on bail.Forty officers have been questioned in connection with the case, which relates to alleged payments received by Inspector Marijuán from Russian...

William McFarlane arrested suspected drugs distribution and gambling den

Five men arrested in a swoop on drugs and illegal gambling in Spain yesterday. William McFarlane, 56, from Glasgow, was taken into custody along with four Englishmen when police targeted a suspected drugs distribution and gambling den in the centre of Benidorm. Officers recovered £77,000 as well as a quantity of illicit drugs, prescription drugs and cigarett...

50-year-old man from South Shields, Tyneside was being held in Spain last night after £21.5million worth of cocaine destined for the UK was seized.

50-year-old man from South Shields, Tyneside was being held in Spain last night after £21.5million worth of cocaine destined for the UK was seized. 50-year-old man from South Shields, Tyneside, was arrested when cops swooped on a warehouse in Vilajoyosa on the Costa Blanca. They found 514 kilos of the drug. It had arrived by lorry from Lisbon after being shipped from West Africa in a load of paper handkerchiefs. Police say they have cracked a new...

Man Kills Flatmate

A man from Ukraine has confessed to murdering his German flatmate at the home they shared on the Intur Urbanisation on Playa de San Juan in Alicante City this weekend. It happened at around 2.30pm on Saturday in a flat on the fifth floor of a block on Avenida de Bruselas, and it appears the victim was beaten on the head with a stick before he was strangled with a belt and officers found blood on the walls when they arrived on the scene. The suspect...

Street seller arrested in rape of British holidaymaker

According to a report in the Sunday Mirror, a street seller is being quizzed about the rape of a British holidaymaker near her Tenerife hotel.The woman identified the 33-year-old man from Senegal at the scene as detectives searched him in Playa de Las Americas.Earlier, police came across shoes and a ripped mini-skirt close to the four-star Sol Tenerife in the early hours of the morning. After a search failed to find the owner they continued to patrol...

attack on a chief inspector and a National Police officer in the Department for Foreigners at the Provincial Headquarters in Malaga.

Prosecutors are asking for 18 months in jail for a man who carried out an attack on a chief inspector and a National Police officer in the Department for Foreigners at the Provincial Headquarters in Malaga. He is facing two charges of causing injury and assault. It has not been revealed whether the suspect has a criminal record for previous similar offenc...

Arrested a Moroccan alleged to have stolen a Mercedes 320

The Guardia Civil at Algeciras port have arrested a Moroccan who is alleged to have stolen a Mercedes 320 in Italy and was attempting to transport it by ferry to North Africa. Officers became suspicious over his car documents which along with the number plate proved to be false. The car was reported stolen in Italy last Octob...

Illegal television distribution networks

Five people have been detained for operating two illegal television distribution networks in Colmenar and Casabermeja. Both are alleged to have supplied local bars with programmes by cable, including coverage of football matches pirated from Digital Plus and Al Jazeera Sport. Two satellite decoders were confiscated during the National Police operation last we...

Divers searching a reservoir for Madeleine McCann

Divers searching a reservoir for Madeleine McCann yesterday found a plastic bag containing small bones.Police experts were last night examining the gruesome find at the lake only 20 minutes from the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz, where Madeleine - three at the time - disappeared last May. Her parents Gerry and Kate McCann were told immediately by a private detective monitoring the search. Portuguese lawyer Marcos Aragao Correia, who sponsored...

Spanish T.V. reporting the Mari Luz Cortés case say she was suffocated to death, and then thrown into the water afterwards.

Reports from Spanish T.V.Telecinco has revealed what it calls the definitive results of the autopsy carried out on the body of the five year old There has been new information in the Mari Luz Cortés case, the five year old girl from Huelva whose body was found in Ria de Huelva a...

British girl arrested for drug trafficking in Morocco

A young English lady was arrested on Wednesday while trying to sail from the Tangiers Port (northern Morocco) for Algésiras (southern Spain) with 10 kg of chira (cannabis resin).The drug was found in a cache set up in the front of a Spanish-registered four-wheel drive vehicle, a Moroccan security source said without disclosing the identity of the British national.Some 70% of the processed kif (cannabis) in Europe comes from Moroc...

Seized a total of 129kg of hashish destined for Algeciras, Spain

Customs authorities at Tangier port foiled three drug trafficking attempts on Sunday (March 9th) and Monday, MAP reported. Officials seized a total of 129kg of hashish destined for Algeciras, Spain. The largest single shipment of 66kg was found in the vehicle of a Moroccan citizen living in Belgium. Authorities seized some 35 tonnes of hashish in Tangier in 2007, an increase of 26% over 2006. In related news, Algerian press reported that on Monday...

Andre Williams died from a heart attack caused by drugs following a beach party in Algeciras

A post-mortem examination found Andre Williams, from Splott, Cardiff, died from a heart attack caused by drugs following a beach party in Algeciras, near Malaga, in the early hours of August 8 last year.packages thought to contain drugs were found inside a 27-year-old-man who died in Spain, an inquest heard yesterday.A total of 13 cylinders were discovered inside Mr Williams’s body, Cardiff Coroner’s Court was told.Mr Williams’s mother told the court...

Málaga and Fuengirola National Police Chief Inspectors and Inspectors arrested by internal affairs

Spanish police have detained four police officers, including three chiefs responsible for fighting organized crime, on charges of several criminal offences, police said Wednesday. The four worked on the southern Costa del Sol coast, which is known for the presence of numerous international...

Attempted Child Snatch on Costa Blanca

Adele Spencer, 28, fought off two intruders who tried to snatch her toddler daughter in Spain.Telling how she fought off the Moroccan-looking women when they broke into her home and tried to take 18-month old Annabelle from her high-chair.The incident came just three days after another British family in the same town were targeted. Yesterday it was claimed the family of missing Madeleine McCann were keen to find out more about the cases.Miss Spencer...

Drugs trafficking La Línea couple

National Police in La Línea have arrested a married couple on drugs trafficking charges. They have also been accused of abandoning their two young children who have been taken into care. In the raid police confiscated drugs including hashish and cocaine, a Smith & Wesson pistol plus a variety of other guns with ammunition as well as 9,240 euros in ca...

Hamburger bars and nightclubs gang that allegedly sold cocaine in Torremolinos and Málaga

Seven people have been arrested in the break-up of a gang that allegedly sold cocaine in hamburger bars and nightclubs in Torremolinos and Málaga. The initial arrests were made when Guardia Civil officers caught four of the gang members red-handed, doing a deal at a Churriana burger restaurant, according to officials. The three additional arrests follow...

Coín man was arrested last week for allegedly fondling and kissing a 10-year-old deaf girl

A Coín man was arrested last week for allegedly fondling and kissing a 10-year-old deaf girl. The arrest occurred after officers arrived at the scene of a fight, where several local residents had attacked the accused, who is also deaf, for his alleged assault on the young girl. He has been released pending trial, with a restraining order prohibiting him from being near the vict...

Spanish national arrested on 33 occasions

National Police in Benidorm have arrested a man in connection with a series of robberies from cars.A police spokesman said the man, a Spanish national, was picked up after more than 20 vehicles had side windows broken and contents stolen.He added that the detainee had been arrested on 33 other occasions for similar offences.National police have also arrested a man following a break in at a British owned bar. He has been accused of forcing entry in...

Death of a young woman whose body was found near an abandoned van

Police are investigating the death of a young woman whose body was found near an abandoned van with Austrian licence plates close to the Segura river estuary in Guardamar del Segura (Alicante) earlier today. The woman's identity has not been confirmed though she seems to have been in her late twenties. A first inspection of the reveals no obvious signs of violence though an autopsy will be performed to confirm cause of de...

1.5 metric tons cocaine destined for Spain

Peruvian police made their biggest cocaine seizure in almost three years, impounding 1.5 metric tons destined for Spain. The shipment was intercepted off the country's northern coast, Interior Minister Luis Alva Castro told reporters today in Lima. Police arrested four Ecuadoreans and seized weapons, vehicles and communications equipment, he said. Police have confiscated 5.6 tons of cocaine so far this year, almost equivalent to the Andean country's...

Mari Luz Cortés DNA testing has now confirmed the identification 100%.

It’s understood that the autopsy has now been completed, and the judge will decide whether to release the results to the press as the investigation remains governed by secrecy. Luis Molina, spokesman for the Cortés family, told journalists that the family has no information on the...

Arrested 24 people in a swoop against copyright infringement

National Police have arrested 24 people in a swoop against copyright infringement across Spain, denominated ‘Operation Búho’. Those detained are allegedly linked to a network which installed pirate software on hardware sold from shops across the country in a fraud estimated to be...

Reports that a body found in the river close to Huelva is that of Mari Luz

The Guardia Civil have confirmed that Five year old Mari Luz, missing from Huelva since she left her home in the El Torrejón area of the city on 13th January for a short trip to the local sweets kiosk, has been found dead. El Mundo said her body was found on Friday evening in Huelva province in the Torrearenilla marshland, in a river close to the Cepsa refinery installations, by an employee of the petroleum company. It’s understood that Mari Luz’s...

773kg of hashish hidden in a car bound for Spain

The customs officers of the port of Tangier, north, seized on Thursday some 773kg of hashish hidden in a car bound for Algesiras, southern Spain, MAP learnt here.The driver and the passenger, aged 21 and 22, were arrested and the investigation so far showed that the drug, worth Euro 3Mn, was intended for the French market.Last week customs officers intercepted a truck bound for France with two metric tons of hashish onboard. Hashish catches in 2007...

Richard Davison is currently on bail in Spain which prevents him from leaving the country

Richard Davison and Ellen George, of Colville Road, Lowestoft, ran Crompton Marine at Lowestoft where they built powerful inflatable boats.The couple who ran a Suffolk boatbuilding business and had more than £1 million stashed at their home had been supplying boats to international drugs smugglers, a court has heard..It is alleged the radar-evading boats - which could carry massive loads of cannabis and still outrun the authorities - would be sold...

Mystery of the deserted boat with 2.4 tons of cannabis

A Civil Guard patrol at the mouth of the Guadalquivir in Sanlúcar de Barrameda on Tuesday morning came up with an unexpected discovery, a boat left close to shore, loaded with more than two tons of cannabis resin. La Voz Digital said there were 78 packages on board, making up a total...

Gang of drug dealers who were arrested in Torrevieja

Gang of drug dealers who were arrested in Torrevieja last month passed themselves off as police officers to steal from other gangs who were trying to smuggle the drugs into Spain. The Civil Guard also say they were part of a much larger organisation which has been under investigation...

Nordine H.S smuggled 150 pellets to Cádiz inside his stomach

A man from Ceuta has beaten the national record in Spain for the amount of cannabis pellets carried in his stomach. He was arrested coming out of a Cádiz hotel this weekend, having smuggled 150 pellets inside his stomach. La Voz Digital gave the previous record as 128.smuggled 150...

Enforced sex workers in Guardamar del Segura

National Police told news agency EFE that the criminal organisation entrapped women in Romania and forced them to work in clubs in Alicante province.Three men and two women, all from Romania, were arrested this week in Guardamar del Segura for belonging to a gang that carries out robberies and sexually exploits young compatriots.Their enquiries also led them to believe that the group was also carrying out robberies and burglaries.Officers first detained...

British man was arrested for allegedly attempting to abuse children

A British man was arrested on Saturday evening at Entre Naranjos urbanisation in Orihuela for allegedly attempting to abuse children.News agency EFE reported that according to the regional supreme court, the suspect was sent to prison on Tuesday on charges of sexual abuse against children and refused bail.They noted that he also has previous criminal convictions for paedophilia offences in Britain.A Spanish press report also alleges that British...

Roy Davis ,Mark Griffiths If found guilty of the murder and attempted murder the two men face up to 25 years in prison under Spain’s penal code.

Two Midlands men being held in custody in the UK are about to be extradited to Spain to face charges over the decade-old murder of 35-year-old Briton Yuri Slivinska.The victim was killed at his Benidorm home on August 21, 1996, and the arrested men will also be questioned over the attempted murder of his mother Eva Slivinska.The two men, Roy Davis aged 59 and Mark Griffiths, 37, tried unsuccessfully to stop the extradition claiming that it would...

Important drugs capture on a beach in Mijas

reports of an important drugs haul on a beach in Mijas, Málaga province, where Civil Guard seized close to a ton of cannabis resin on a beach near Cabo Pino in the early hours of Sunday. Two Moroccans and a Spaniard were caught in the act as they were unloading 990 kilos of the drug into two waiting vehicl...

Motorist he had no driving licence and that he was also drunk

Motorist who drove on the wrong side of the A-7 motorway for 15 kilometres before he was stopped in the early hours of Sunday has been remanded to custody after appearing before a judge in Elche. The Crevillent Civil Guard warned other drivers along the way as they followed him from kilometre 724 as far as 739, and it was later found that he had no driving licence and that he was also drunk.The Información newspaper said he was six times over the...

Anthony C charged with keeping a Polish woman captive

A 31 year old man named by El Mundo newspaper as Anthony C. from the UK has been arrested by police on Mallorca, charged with keeping a Polish woman captive for two years. The paper said he met her in Porto Colom in May 2006, where she had arrived at the age of 22 to work in the tourist sector for the season, and that he had been holding her against her will ever since then, locking her inside the house when he went o...

Tonight programme

The Tonight programme, does not make any reference whatsoever to the death of a Scottish man who died after he was mugged in Benidorm town centre last December. We strongly refute any suggestion that we have “hidden interests” in trying to damage the city’s image.The programme does not focus on the Benidorm tourist resort but predominantly looks at crime against expats who have moved inland from the coast to more remote areas. The programme reflects...

Spain is the biggest drug emporium in the world

US State Department has come out with a report identifying Spain as the biggest drug emporium in the world. It's the highway for cocaine entering the EU from Latin America and hashish coming in from Morocco. 3% of Spaniards use cocaine regularly; one in five European coke users is Spanish. Spain has a higher percentage of users of not only cocaine, but also hash and designer drugs, than any other European count...